


Kinda Crunchy Lookin'

by I_Otaku



Series: Amnesty [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Dani and Everyone, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 16:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19233115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Otaku/pseuds/I_Otaku
Summary: What people don’t seem to understand, is that gardening isn’t a nice calm little dainty thing at Amnesty Lodge. It’s a full body sport. And Dani likes to involve the other residents however she can.Dani's relationship with gardening, and each member of Amnesty Lodge.





	1. Mama

Dani showed up at Amnesty Lodge a spring in the early 2000s. (Just in time for the terrible short sleeve over long sleeve fashion, Mama always reminded). It was a nice place, but more more rinky dink than the nice lodge it would later become. The hot springs were one singular bath that would get warm in the summer and only sometimes in the winter.

But Dani stayed mostly to herself after leaving Sylvain. Not that it was a _choice_  for her, she spent the first year in the lodge almost completely secluded. She spent her time in bed, drawing portraits of her family members before she forgot what they looked like. Her mother, her father, her brother. Then she drew the castle, the crystal, the architecture, she littered her room in the lodge with her past, what she missed.  And just being in the room- soaked through with memories as it was- it clung to her skin and her psyche.

Barclay was the first one to be openly kind to her, but in the way an adult treats a scared child. Mama was the first one to treat her kind in the way she needed. Mama told her that once she was done sulking she had work to do. Mama stood prouder back then, her shoulders were still broad and weighted down from her work, but she was proud. She was just so openly strong, her duster was dirty but not scuffed or torn, her hat was new. Mama rubbed Dani’s shoulder and let her cry, but also threw away the sketches when Dani was too engrossed in her drawings and started spiraling into sadness.

Dani was never much of a gardener in Sylvain, the dying heart meant greenery was a rare thing and heavily protected. She didn’t know she had a green thumb until she came to earth. She wore one of Barclay’s flannels she had stolen forever ago and her bibs to meet Mama out behind the lodge for her first day of work. And when Mama appeared from one of the far back sheds, two bags of mulch over each shoulder Dani was surprised. Dani rushed to help and Mama just dropped the bags, and told her to help she’d need to go grab one of the trowels so they could start marking out the mulch pits.

Mama had an old ipod and a speaker set up on one of the porches that they listened to, and Dani slowly felt herself opening up. Instead of taking, like taking from her memories or from her heart in her art, she got to give. She dug up some weed roots and shuffled her hands in the mulch as she spread it. The bugs were avoiding Dani because of her blood and Mama more than once asked if Dani could share. Mama did most of the heavy lifting, but the two of them were equally sweaty half way through. She made some comment about lifting with her legs instead of her back, and Mama laughed before making a comment about the latest abomination and waving her hand. Dani smiled although she didn’t exactly understand, just hearing Mama talk and seeing her roll up her sleeves was nice. Mama wasn’t one of the nobles from Sylvain, somebody who thought they were above hard work. She was a hard worker, she cared enough to put herself in everyone’s positions and do everything she could to help.

Mama sat on one of the big rocks and wiped some sweat from her brow, smearing dirt in it’s place. Dani laughed, and Mama helpfully pointed out she was pretty crusty herself. When her hair came out Mama waved her over and Dani sat on the rock, Mama pulled her gloves off with her teeth and fixed up the ponytail, double knotting the ribbon. They sat there for nearly ten minutes, Mama sitting with her hand on Dani’s shoulder and rubbing her thumb back and forth. They didn’t say anything, and they didn’t need too.

After a few hours Mama just sat on her rock and watched Dani finish up, the sylph emptied the last bag and cracked her back. Mama gave a thumbs up, and an offer for her to take over gardening from then on. Dani, although completely exhausted with numb limbs and drowning in sweat, replied that she wouldn’t be happier.


	2. Jake

Summertime wasn’t the  _ greatest _ time for the plants aside from all the sunshine they could get. (But even then, some burned alive under the hot sun, and some got pretty dehydrated if Dani didn’t water them frequently). The sun would kill any baby planted during the hot months, so she was left taking care of what plants were already there. But the size of the lodge and therefore the size of the garden space meant she had her work cut out for her. 

Until she decided to get prepped to do her work in the lobby. A few of the Sylphs watched her enamoured, she tied her hair up and wore her work clothes, she was prepping at about one in the afternoon when most people would already be working, but she didn’t want to face the full heat and get roasted alive. A few people asked her about the work, some exchanged comments about their own work, and one watched her rather intently. Dani turned to him, and he looked away before turning back and running up to her. 

He explained that he wanted to help but Mama hadn’t given him a job yet- summer wasn’t his forte and he didn’t know what to do. Dani pat his head and waved over her shoulder for him to follow. They talked as they walked down the edge of the west beds. Dani pointed out different plants as Jake introduced himself, he didn’t mind being briefly interrupted because he did it to her too. He talked about how long he had been on earth, what he missed about home, and although he didn’t really do anything Dani didn’t mind. Mama couldn’t always be in the garden after all. Having Jake just walk with her, talk, it was nice. It make the garden feel less lonely. They checked the perimeter of the fences, picked a few of the weeds from growing up into some of the bushes. 

And then, later in the week when Dani was getting ready again to check the east beds, Jake was already waiting in the lobby. He leapt to his feet and shoved a basket into Dani’s hands talking animatedly about how cute it was, and how it would be nice for gardening. Dani of course just nodded along as Jake spoke, but when she leaned down to pull some weeds from the closest mulch bed it felt oddly nice to just drop it into the wicker basket. It made her feel fancy in a way she couldn’t explain, Jake said she was like a movie character and she just nodded along. She opened up over time though, they started hanging out more often than just patrolling the grounds. Jake named them the weed patrol and decorated the basket with a green ribbon that made Dani huff a laugh. They talked about their time in Kepler, Jake showed her the ski resort over the winter when she couldn’t garden, and in the autumn to distract from the dying seasonal plants Jake took her out into downtown Kepler (Or what constituted, Kepler was barely a blip on any map aside from Green Bank). Jake was close to her age, which was nicer than Dani cared to admit, they could watch movies and make stupid jokes, they could raid the goodwill and throw together the best worst early 2000s fashion and took way too complicated poses in photos. They watched Sailor Moon together and Dani broke her arm trying to snowboard with him one winter. Jake felt horrible the poor kid, he doted on her for the first week before he gave up and got back to pelting her with snowballs whenever they left the lodge.

When they couldn’t catch up, or they were worried about the lodge or the abominations, Dani would head out to the lower shed and grab the basket, and spin her arm around a few times before Jake would come barreling out. Jake only got the basket first when things were really bad, but they had that time, wandering up and down the property to just talk. Be young sylphs, not worrying about disguises or death, or exile. They were friends, pulling weeds, making bad jokes, and punching each other whenever a volkswagon bug drove by the lodge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on Tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


	3. Barclay

Sometimes the vines just weren’t her priority, and that was her own damn fault. But every time she stopped worrying about them, they became a problem. There was a particularly nasty asshole on the northern corner fence, Dani only remembered as she walked down the fence perimeter with her hammer in hand, replacing the fence post caps. The vine was nearly as thick as her wrist, it looped through the metal fence grate, curled in on itself, and Dani just stood there watching it as she pondered how the hell she could get to the cap to replace it. And then she had an idea.

She returned to the lower shed, grabbed the shears and returned with a determined glint in her eyes. And then an hour later her stolen flannel was torn in four places, she had at least six thorns in her arms, she lost her hammer to the viney bastard, and the shears were stuck in the biggest stem. She threw her arms up and sighed, before someone laughed behind her. And she looked, surprised to see Barclay standing with two bottles of something. He made some comment about arm strength and Dani wiped her face on her sleeve before taking one of the reusable bottles (Barclay set the other on the ground and walked over, rubbing his jaw melodramatic and inquisitive). It was lemonade she realized, and she slurped it thankfully.

Barclay, unsurprisingly for his size grabbed the shears and snapped the vine straight through where Dani got them caught, and pulled them away. Dani set her bottle down next to his and grabbed a thornless spot of the vine and started pulling it from the fence, she called for another point and Barclay nodded, moving the shears and snapping them shut again. She started pulling off the cut bits, making half hearted jokes and comments about how horny the plant must be if it’s this flexible. Barclay would laugh and make his own shitty joke, it fell into just talking occasionally punctuated by Barclay’s groans from the snapping and Dani’s winces of thorns in her skin.

Dani's arms burned from her own exhaustion, but she could still see Barclay's forearms shaking by the end. With tired arms they lifted their drinks and returned to the lodge kitchen.

And then, maybe she left the vines to grow for a little too long. Who could really say? She loitered around the jerkwad curling along the fence threatening to take off the fence post cap, happily surprised to find Barclay approaching with new gloves, the old shears, and a kind smile.

Barclay was strong, as was in his nature to be. But he was also soft. He was kind and caring, he talked about his love for cooking, his favorite trashy romance novels, all of the braids he had picked up during his travels. Dani of course listened, he had to have at least a hundred years on her. But as much as he talked, he had a way of getting her to talk too. Not obvious or cloying questions, but she just wanted to share with him. After every time they would pull down the vines and set them in the small fire pit to dry out, Barclay would have made lemonade and sandwiches waiting in the fridge. He would pick any thorns out of her and she would do the same for him. Once before their exercise he gave Dani two beautiful and dexterous french braids that went up her head to make two space buns. Her hair was out of her face, she could towel off her neck, and she wore it like that until it fell out three days later (that was also the first time she learned about dry shampoo).

Barclay kept her safe when they wandered through the woods, she helped patch up him and mama after a hunt. He made her favorite food and she listened to him talk about his past travels across the US, sketching out important landmarks and memories.

 And every time Mama mentioned a vine overtaking a bush or a tree, or godforbid a section of the fence, Dani would mumble _‘kinky’_ under her breath and get him to burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


	4. Thacker

The flower beds were the nicest looking part of the garden, perfect in the way rich people cared about their lawns looking artificial and pristine. And Dani wasn’t the biggest fan. The flowers were nice, but the biodiversity of letting the lawn just grow was so much more appealing to her. Let the plants do what they wanted, let them flourish and be the environment they should be.

But after a while, Dani assigned her own feelings to the flower bed. She assigned it remorse. Not guilt, or sadness on her behalf, but a regret for the actions of the past. Not her past. Sylvain’s past. She had lived at the lodge for close to five years, spending her time mostly in the garden, although she was starting to become more of an experienced sylph in regards to humans. And in her time, she saw too many sylphs leave, too many die fighting the abominations, too many attempt to go back and never return. (She could hope they were living happily in Sylvain, but she wasn’t that naive). Jake helped her weed, so very very careful to not uproot the memorials.

So whenever a resident died, or left, or went missing (which were all about the same thing if Barclay’s old tales were anything to go by) Dani planted a flower. Maybe a bush. Sometimes she planted many at once, Mama’s accidental soft stories of long forgotten friends from the early days of the pine guard. Some, she planted one alone, the day of or the day after the news reached the lodge about a mysterious body or a lodge room once loved was found completely empty.

She had only seen Thacker in passing, his trips up and down between the headquarters and the lodge. He seemed nice enough, they spoke in the way coworkers do, not really saying anything despite the words piling up. She never understood him. And then he was gone. 

Mama, Barclay, a few of the pine guard members who would have their own flowers, lodge members who were close to him, no one took it well. And Dani, standing out in the early autumn breeze, planted a small bush of forget-me-nots in his honor. 

 

When he came back, feral from the energy of Sylvain, Dani could still see the grief. The pain in Mama and Barclay’s eyes. The fear that they had only begun their mourning. 

Dani stared down at the snow-covered flower bed. She wanted to uproot the withered flower bush. (It wasn’t the original after all) And now in the harsh winter it would be easy. Just the dying roots and seeds. The plant was seasonal and died to be reborn each year. It seemed that their remorse had died, only to be reborn again. She left the forget me nots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


	5. Moira

The hot springs were a bit of a weird one in Dani’s book. Hot, humid, and sticky year round, she never really got how plants would enjoy growing there. But eventually, she liked to believe that the plants were a little bit sylvan just like her. That the hot springs magic brought them to life. And every month or so, Dani would put on her swim shirt, swim shorts and her bibs, and go out to tend to the hot spring plants. 

Snapdragons seemed to like the heat and the rich magic soil, and Dani couldn’t help but like their color. She would weed as best she could, uproot some of the rocks that covered some pressure points on the pipes, every once in a long long while she’d even bring in new plants. But working in the spring (ironically) was the best. She didn’t sweat from the heat, and the lodge doors would be open so she could yell inside and participate in the lodge-wide watching of jeopardy (nobody really could get history except for Barclay and Mama, but as much as it was a test to see what they knew it was also just a chance to learn new things. Jake screamed when there was a snowboarding category, and ancient history always managed to coincide with one sylph in the room).

She was working one spring morning, the door was open and she was hoping to get her work done quick and sit out in the forest to draw. And music started drifting out into the springs. She didn’t really notice, she figured somebody was listening without headphones and walking around. But when she pat down a new snapdragon sprout, she looked up to see Moira seated at the piano near the rear doors. Dani watched her for a few moments, listening to the somber music that played out into the springs. And when she left to put away the tools in the lower shed, the music stopped. By the time she got back, Moira was gone.

But then, that next month, the piano played again as she worked. And Dani listened. And time after time, in blistering summer heat or wet winter cold, Moira would play for her. Most of the time through the open door, but even in the winter Dani could still hear the tune through the closed doors. And slowly, over time, it would change. Yes, sad when a sylph decided to leave, or one was lost to an abomination. But it was never a funeral march designed to make others miserable or mourn. It was always a little austere, but it was always full of hope. The two women didn’t talk much, from what Dani heard Moira had been around for nearly five hundred years as a ghost, not counting however long she lived in Sylvain. But they didn’t especially need to. As she worked, Dani could hear the vibrato in Moira’s shaking hands some days, she could hear her excited breathing as though she had this tied to her living memory (A habit so deeply rooted she couldn’t shake it even lifetimes after her death) on others. She slipped the woman sheet music she printed from the Kepler public library a few times, when she played the jeopardy theme one morning during breakfast the entire lodge erupted into cheers.  

While it was never one Dani could put her finger on as being particularly familiar, her relationship with Moira would be one she would come to cherish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


	6. Aubrey

In the fall, she clung to her garden work. So many of the plants were dying and she knew she'd lose a part of herself like she did every year. She'd still be around and pretend that she wasn't sad, but she always was. Not as bad as that first winter, but every year she lost what she worked so hard to cultivate. 

So in the autumn Dani clung. She spent more of her time outside, she doted on the plants, on the flowers, spent any extra cash on stuff for the garden. And as a result, she spent a lot more time walking around in Kepler (hand with her ring always curled into a fist) and more time with the locals. She knew she was also a local, but not in the way the humans were. She was walking back from one of these trips when she arrived to find Mama's truck gone. And she got to work, minding her space. She was done and only sulking a little when Mama returned with Aubrey. 

She was one of the most beautiful women Aubrey had ever seen. And when she caught the fire with magic, Dani was excited. They sat together after everyone had shown their sylph forms, they exchanged jokes and Dani’s eyes traced every curve of Aubrey's lips, the lines of her chin, the curly pompadour of her hair. Dani found herself sketching her that night, her thoughts were full of Aubrey's smile, of Dr Harris Bonkers PhD, of Aubrey's nervous laugh and high pitched wheeze, her little ramble that looped back in on itself. 

Dani headed straight into the yard that next morning, pouch of apple sauce in her bibs as she grabbed her rake. She saw Aubrey's hair in the leaves, heard her laugh in the breeze. She raked as best she could, the wind kept blowing around the piles and although Dani could get angry, she was happy more than anything else. She didn’t run around in glee, but autumn wasn’t quite so routine anymore. When Dani looked over she was surprised to see Aubrey bundled up in coats waving from the porch. 

And one way or another, Dani did end up running through the leaves. She wound up screaming in laughter, tackling Aubrey into the leaves and pressing her forehead into Aubrey’s jacket breathless in glee. Eventually they did get up, retying scarves and zipping coats. Dani raked into piles and Aubrey moved them to the compost piles, a few leaves were lost to the breeze, and they were left with only one when Jake barreled out into the yard, cannon-ballling into it. Aubrey went in after him, they were wrestling and Mama yelled at the two of them from the porch.

The yard although orange and slowly fading, was warmer than it had been all season.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


	7. Ned

Ned was notoriously work averse. Dani knew it, he was a liar and a little bit scummy, but she couldn’t bring herself to hate him. They didn’t talk much, but sometimes he would sit on the porch during the snowfall and listen to the trees. Dani sat with him once. They looked over the snow covered garden, they saw the dying plants and shrivelled up flower pods long since frosted.

At first he didn’t talk, he didn’t say anything real at least. But Dani just sat. They listened to the breeze, the cold winter air. Dani felt just a little at home once they could speak, once the ice had been broken and she could hear the churning of water beneath the surface. 

A lot of it was nonsense, jokes and hand waving statements. But eventually, they talked about friends. Ned spoke of an old friend, affectionately called a bastard. Dani listened and laughed at all the right parts. Dani spoke of her brother, affectionately given the same nickname. Both spoke of heavy heavy topics, their fears and their desperations, but under the guise of off the cuff chitchat. They were real and at the same time not, conversations they would never talk about to anyone they trusted, but just had to get off their chest. They sat, drinking Barclay’s bourbon hot chocolate and kicking powdery snow towards the hot springs to watch it melt.

The next time they met, neither talked about the past. Neither talked about their night on the porch. But the memory was still there. 

 

It would be a night Dani would never forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


	8. Duck

When the winter went down and the ground became a thick carpet of snow, Dani was sad. Yeah, she had the time to snowboard with Jake, snowball the hornets she saw, but it also left her with the emptiness. Duck stopped by one evening when Dani found herself sulking by the window after jeopardy.

He didn’t quite know what to say, but just having him try meant a lot to her. They sat and looked out the back window, they watched the setting sun and just enjoyed the view. Amnesty lodge was far enough away from the city to not have the little bit of light or noise pollution, the air was clear and the stars shone bright. 

Duck offered to walk Dani through the trees around the lodge, and she leapt at the chance. The abomination was due soon so she didn’t want to wander alone, but she was starting to get literal cabin fever. 

The air bit just a little, and Duck walked a little bit too fast, but he didn’t try to sweep through or get her out and over it. Dani looked over the frozen crystals of frost that hung to the evergreen pines. She yelled into the wind and let it carry between the trees, Duck laughed and told her that the trees were the best secret keepers. Duck asked about the lodge, about Sylvain. It wasn’t meant to be mean, but Dani still found herself hesitant after all these years. Eventually she told him, she talked with all the fervour and love she could manage. And Duck listened. He nodded and never undermined her, he never corrected her. 

Then, when she ran out of words and the trees had taken all of her secrets, Duck spoke about them. Duck told her the identifying markers of the different species in Kepler, the bark patterns, the average height, average ages. He talked with that same love, that same passion. And Dani listened just as he did. As the sun sent long warm shadows across the snow Duck walked her back. And sometimes, the trees would hear her cry, or hear her scream, and Duck would forget. Other times he’d scream into the woods and she would forget. 

For candlenights Duck bought her a pine tree sapling, a pretty shrimpy little thing truth be told. But Dani pulled him outside, he shoveled up some snow and dirt near the hot springs to keep the little fella from freezing. It was planted in the middle of the night in a tipsy haze (nicknamed Ducky at the same time), and it was the wrong time of year to plant it, but it didn’t die. 

Dani smiled every time she saw her little secret keeper. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you enjoyed, please PLEASE leave a comment! It really does make a difference!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr at MWritesSometimes for updates, snippets, and snacks!


End file.
